The Hidden Card || NCT MAFIA

Chapter fifty-nine: The doubt remains

Taeyong had turned his back to Johnny and Kun as soon as Mark had fled the room.

"He's just a kid, Taeyong," Johnny said, knowing exactly what was going through his brain.

The leader let out a sigh, "I know. I just wish he was more careful and less... trusting."

"He'll learn," said Kun. "For now, we have to focus on that new piece of information."

Taeyong nodded and sat down at his desk, joining his hands under his chin.

"Alright, then. What does that tell us?"

"That poor Iseul has been surrounded by no one other than back-stabber traitors her entire life?" Johnny said sarcastically.

"That from the beginning, we had our eyes on the wrong enemy," Kun corrected, ignoring his remark.

"We were too focused on Park, and not enough on other potential adversaries. That was a mistake," Taeyong conceited. "Clearly, he's more prepared than we anticipated, and he planned everything thoroughly."

"He has a lot of people in his pocket, which puts us in a bad position."

"But why Chaewon, though?" Johnny asked. "You said she was Iseul's friend -obviously she isn't- but why a random teenager?"

No one replied for a moment. They didn't understand either.

After a few minutes, Taeyong turned to Kun.

"Kun, go to Taeil-hyung and ask him to find everything he can on that girl. I want to know her whole life inside and out, understood? Have him dig out every single moment of it if he has to, and tell him to be quick and discreet about it."

Kun nodded and left the room without another word.

"So you're still going to keep this a secret, then?" Johnny asked once it was only the two of them in the office.

Taeyong noticed the hint of annoyance in his tone, but didn't raise it.

"I don't know if you noticed," he said calmly, "but this isn't really a secret anymore. Too many people know, now. I just want to keep things on the low for a little longer, but I'll tell everyone soon."

He took a deep breath, "I don't exactly have a choice anymore. We have to put all our cards on the table, or we won't be able to make this work."

Johnny frowned, "Then what's the problem? Why does telling everyone seem to bother you so damn much?"

Looking at him in the eye, Taeyong said, "Because I don't know who I can trust."

Johnny took a step back, as if his words had physically hurt him. Taeyong seemed to notice and went on, "We know for a fact that someone tampered with our security system from the inside," he explained.

Johnny frowned, "So that's why you've been acting so distant lately..." he muttered.

Taeyong nodded and ran a hand through his hair.

"But I guess the mystery is solved, now. Chaewon must have been the one to do it since Mark told us she's been here before and he left her alone."

Johnny hummed in response, a troubled expression on his face.

"So this girl not only managed to mess up our system, but also kidnapped Iseul? All by herself?"

"Looks like it," Taeyong muttered, not convinced.

"You think she had help."

"Don't tell me you don't either. How could a young woman like her manage to kidnap Iseul without anyone of us noticing anything, all by herself? It seems pretty obvious to me that someone helped her, yes."

"Alright, but who?"

"That's what we need to find out."

Johnny sucked in a sharp breath.

"Well," he said, "at least there is a positive side to all of this."

Taeyong looked at him, a deep frown on his face. "Care to enlighten me?"

"You now know who was behind this. Which means you don't have to doubt us anymore."

Taeyong didn't reply, and even though Johnny had a valid point, he couldn't help but have a bad feeling about this whole situation. His gut feeling was usually right, and Taeyong didn't want to ignore it. He couldn't afford making anymore mistakes.

Thankfully for him, he didn't have to reply as a knock on the door interrupted them.

Kun walked in, holding out sheets of paper.

"You have to see this," he exclaimed, handing Taeyong the papers.

"Taeil-hyung is already done?" Johnny asked as their leader was already focusing on the black words imprinted on the paper.

"No," Kun replied, "but he gave me the first things he could find on Chaewon, he's still digging. You'll never guess who she is."

Johnny turned to Taeyong expectantly.

"Well?" he pressed.

His leader's eyes bored holes in the paper, widening as he slowly took in the discovery.

"Chaewon is the daughter of Iseul's father's right-hand."

"So she works for them?"

"We can only guess so, yes."

"When Kang died, we never really took the time to worry about his associates, we simply assumed that his empire would crumble down now that he was out," Kun explained. "That was a mistake on our part."

"So what you're saying is that his right-hand, who happens to be Chaewon's father, works for Park now and so does his daughter?"

"That's the only explanation. Why else would she deliver Iseul to Park if she wasn't working for him?"

Johnny let himself fall back on his chair.

"Damn," he muttered.

"At least now we know that there wasn't any mole in our ranks," Kun said, hoping to raise the spirits.

"Yeah, that's what I said too," Johnny spoke.

Taeyong kept silent as he put back the paper sheets on his desk. His bad feeling wouldn't go away. Kun stared at him for a moment, as if he could sense his worry. He decided not to ask him about it, at least not while Johnny was still in the room.

"So what's the plan, now?"

"Now," Taeyong said, "we gather everyone and we get Iseul back."

It took less than five minutes for the members to gather in the common area, some of them fully awake and some barely keeping their eyes open.

Taeyong didn't seem to mind the rather chaotic atmosphere and cleared his throat to draw their attention. Silence fell in the room in a second, and all eyes turned to him.

Now that he was standing in front of them, Taeyong's bad feeling only increased, leaving him anxious. Slowly, he observed each one of their faces carefully, as if engraving their features in his mind.

They were so familiar, they were his family. And yet now they almost seemed foreign to him.

As his eyes roamed around the room, Taeyong couldn't help but feel utterly convinced that one of them had betrayed his trust.